microcode.dat is in a traditional text format. It is still used in some Linux distributions. It can be updated to the system through the old microcode update interface which is available in the kernel with CONFIG_MICROCODE_OLD_INTERFACE=y.

To update the microcode.dat to the system, one need:1. Ensure the existence of /dev/cpu/microcode 2. Write microcode.dat to the file, e.g. dd if=microcode.dat of=/dev/cpu/microcode bs=1M

intel-ucode directory contains binary microcode files named in family-model-stepping pattern. The file is supported in most modern Linux distributions. It's generally located in the /lib/firmware directory, and can be updated through the microcode reload interface.

To update the intel-ucode package to the system, one need:1. Ensure the existence of /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload2. Copy intel-ucode directory to /lib/firmware, overwrite the files in /lib/firmware/intel-ucode/ 3. Write the reload interface to 1 to reload the microcode files, e.g. echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload

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